Inspection Certificate

-
The Inspection Certificate is a document issued by an authority indicating the goods have been inspected, particularly in accordance to a set of industry, customer, government or carrier specifications, prior to shipments and the results of the inspection.

Inspection Certificates are generally obtained from a neutral testing organizations e.g. either a government entity or independent surveying company. In some cases, the inspection certificate can come from the manufacturer or shipper but not from the forwarder or logistics company.

An Inspection Certificate should include the following details:
  1. Details, particularly of the consignor, consignee and the goods' description for the said shipment and other information to be in conformity with other documents e.g. documentary credit, commercial invoice, packing list, etc.
  2. Date of the inspection being made.
  3. Statement of sampling methodology.
  4. Statement of the results of the inspection.
  5. The name, signature and/or stamp or seal of the inspection entity.
Cautions and Notes

In the case of certain countries and certain commodities, the inspection certificate must be issued by an appropriate government agency or department. 

IN a documentary letter of credit, buyers should avoid the use of such terms like, "first class", "well-known", "qualified", "independent", "official", "competent" or "local" when referring to an acceptable inspection authority. It is preferable to agree beforehand as to a specific inspection organization or entity and for the buyer to name the required certifying organization or entity in the documentary credit.

The use of vague terminology (as mentioned above) will result in the bank's acceptance of any relevant document that appears "on its face" to be in compliance with the documentary credit, so long as it was not issued by the beneficiary (seller/exporter).

Popular posts from this blog

Definition, nature and purpose of a Documentary Credit

-
Article 2 of the Uniform Custom and Practice for Documentary Credit defines a documentary credit as: "For the purpose of these articles, the expression documentary credits and standby letters of credit (hereinafter referred to as credits ) means any arrangements, however named or described, whereby a bank (the issuing bank) acting on request and on the instructions of a customer (the applicant) or on its own behalf: is to make a payment to or to the order of a third party (the beneficiary) or is to accept and pay bills of exchange (drafts) drawn by the beneficiary, or, authorizes another the bank to effect such payment or to accept and pay such bills of exchange (drafts) or, authorizes another bank to negotiate, against stipulated documents, provided that the terms and conditions of the credit are adhered with". In a layman language, a documentary credit may be describe as a legal undertaking in writing. It is issued by the customer's bank (also known as the issuing ba
Read more

Bills of Lading

-
Image
A bill of lading is a document issued by a carrier to a shipper, signed by the captain, agent or owner of a vessel, furnishing written evidence regarding receipt of the cargo, the conditions on which transportation is made (contract of carriage) and the engagement to deliver goods as the prescribed port of destination to the lawful holder of the bill of lading. A bill of lading is, therefore both a receipt for the merchandise and a contract to deliver it as freight. There are a number of different types of bill of lading a number of issues that relate to them as a group of documents. Straight Bill of Lading (Non-Negotiable) A straight bill of lading indicates that the shipper will deliver the goods to the consignee. The document itself does not give title to the goods (making it non-negotiable). The consignee need only to identify himself to claim the goods. A straight bill of lading is often used when payment for the goods has already been made in advance or in cases where
Read more

Various Basic Shipping Charges on Landside and Waterside

-
Landside Stevedoring - cargo handling charges for loading / discharging cargo on / from conventional breakbulk vessels. LCL Service Charge - charge for stuffing and unstuffing LCL (Less than Container Load) cargo into or from a container at the freight station. Equipment Transfer Charge (ETC) - charge for lifting an empty or loaded container onto / from the trailer. Also called Lift-on / Lift-off (LOLO) charge. This charge is applicable on FCL (Full Container Load) containers only. Terminal Handling Charge (THC) - charge for handling (receiving and delivering) FCL containers at the container yard (CY). Waterside Bunker Adjustment Factor (BAF) - surcharge for offsetting changes in fuel prices. Congestion Surcharge - surcharge levied on cargo that are discharge at a port where ships are experiencing delays in turnaround time. Currency Adjustment Factor (CAF) - surcharge for offsetting fluctuations in currency exchange rates of various currencies against the US Dollar. In Asia and Japan t
Read more